


Revolutionary Vignette

by Kerink



Series: This Is Not A Test, This Is The Real Thing [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-12
Packaged: 2018-04-26 02:34:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4986760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kerink/pseuds/Kerink
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rufioh's the only one brave enough to criticize Karkat, and his followers don't like that very much. Post-game, and Karkat still can't handle inter-group conflict.</p><p>Setting: mid-revolution.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Revolutionary Vignette

**Author's Note:**

> keri: #sadstuck  
> keri: imagine after the revolution gets going the munks and followers start just seeing rufioh as the guy that brought them the signless, cause hes trying to stay lukewarm to it to not over shadow karkat or get too heavily involved again, and they start muscling him out and trying to keep him from karkat because theyre just like "yeah yeah stop hovering weve got him now we can take it from here"  
> scones: rufioh would lose it  
> scones: he is actually in a constant state of losing it  
> scones: he never really had it to begin with  
> scones: but somehow he has more of it to lose  
> keri: karkat trying to do what he can to not be rude about it at first. doing his job then always sneaking back around to rufioh. but eventually it goes on long enough and karkat fucking snaps and now rufioh has to carry him everywhere just to make a point.  
> scones: lfkgd  
> keri: BUT so i can continue to torture myself on that line of thought all week, i need to know: rufioh lose it sad or mad  
> scones: both, quietly  
> scones: sad and mad but not saying anything abt it  
> scones: just like 'oh okay well. i'll just be over here then, cool'

"Stop!" Karkat shouted at the crowd. The group was slowly advancing on Rufioh, tensions rising and more than a few fangs bared. But they listened to their lord's command. Karkat kept his gaze locked squarely on the head monk, the leader of his ancestor's church, the first to embrace him after he made his official appearance in the timeline. 

Despite the waver to his voice, Karkat spoke with absoluteness. "Leave The Summoner alone," he panted between breaths forced even. The claws digging into his palms were a nice grounding tool; his pupils dilating and constricting back in slow procession. "You people claim to follow Ancestor's words but look at you! Foaming like animals and snapping at one another the moment anyone steps out of line! You're panfucked-! This isn't a fucking cult and I won't let you keep acting this way!

“I don't care if you don't like the way we talk to each other, I don't care about your jealousy or insecurity, I don't care if you think he isn't the right man for the job! The Summoner- No! Rufioh didn't bring me here for you! He came with me! He is my equal, my partner, my teammate-" Karkat's eyes flickered over to Rufioh, whose palms were shaking with what the boy wasn't sure he was holding back. His jaw was set, chest heaving. He was angry, he was terrified. Their eyes locked and Karkat was flooded with pity, with a need to help him, protect him. He wasn't addressing the mob anymore. 

"He's my friend. He's my mentor. He's my springboard. I can't do this without him. There would be no me without him. None of the church's guards make me feel as safe as he does, no monk has the wisdom that he does, no follower makes me feel so sure about myself and what we're doing here that he does."

Karkat forced his hands to unclench, now pleading at the crowd as he looked around. "Do any of you care that I love him? Why does it seem like even after so long you all only hear what you want, see me as who you want? None of you get it, still. You hate him for how he back talks me, sasses me, criticizes me, and bullies me, but he's the only one that loves and respects and trusts me enough to say what needs to be said." His voice breaks when he say: "I'm just a kid. And for all you say you love me, he's the only one who sees me as a person. You're all no better than the highbloods who see red and think threat. You see red and think god. None of you see me and think Karkat. I don't think any of you have ever even said my name..."

He doesn't notice he's crying until he feels a drop on his outstretched hand.

"There's a reason I confide everything in him and not to you! There's a reason he reads my drafts and none of you do! I trust him and none of you get!" Slowly his voice rose until he was screaming at the crowd, the fire sparked from The Sufferer's Final Sermon blazing in his veins. "None of you fucking get it! You still don't understand anything and I don't understand how none of you panthrottled morons seem to be able to wrap your minds around this simple concept!

"No matter what I say or do you don't see me! You see a redblood you don't see Karkat! You're still putting blood over everything else! I am me! I'm not my blood! And none of you see that but him!"

Rufioh had taken a knee before the shaking boy before the others had even pieced together their rushed apologies, their pleas for him to calm down, to breathe. Karkat had always managed to keep his fits private, managed to hold himself together when triggered long enough to find Rufioh and abscond to their private tent. The man knew what to do while the worshipers were caught off guard. 

"Karkat," he said, soft but firm, swallowing and compartmentalizing his own emotional upheaval for the boy. He took Karkat's hands in his own, "Hey, hey, look at me, breathe." Rufioh rubbed his thumbs on Karkat's hands as he waited for him to catch his hyperventilating breath. "Say it with me now, Karkat," he said, and together they chanted:

"I am Karkat Vantas, I am nine and a half solar sweeps." Rufioh's voice was slow, clearly pronouncing each word as Karkat shakily struggled to gasp them out. "The game is over. I am on Alternia. I am safe." Karkat finally broke, fully sobbing hiccuping, choked gasps of air as he said, "I exist, I exist."

Over and over they repeated those last two words until Karkat began to calm. The rebels had gathered around the pair, desperately looking for a way to help. When Rufioh noticed he tightly pulled the boy into his arms, covering his head with one hand.

He glared out his periphery and spat, "Haven't you people done enough to him tonight? Go. Get out of my sight. You're lucky he's God, for only God could forgive you for this..."

**Author's Note:**

> i'm also on twitter (kerinky) & tumblr (kerink)


End file.
